With all of the press around the Princess of Wales’s 43rd birthday last week, we were told emphatically that no one should expect to see Kate in public very often this year. Basically, Kate can be expected to attend a handful of daytime events like Trooping the Colour and Wimbledon, but I believe they’ll be able to keep her away from “tiara events” for a while. It’s also clear that Kate has refused to do even a bare minimum of charitable visits for the time being. So only “big events” and nothing where she could wear a tiara. It would be extremely funny if, with these new rules around Kate’s public appearances and lack of work, her first outing of the year would be a trip to the BAFTAs. It would be a particular kind of admission about Kate’s priorities. Of course, it would also be sort of funny if she didn’t turn up and William once again went solo. His solo trip to the BAFTAs last year was widely criticized, for good reason. Well, there’s a rumor going around the Daily Mail that Kate will make a triumphant return to work this year at the BAFTAs.
The Princess of Wales is set to make her biggest comeback to royal working life with a show- stopping appearance at next month’s Bafta film awards. Insiders at the awards say they are ‘pulling out all the stops’ to ensure the ceremony marks Kate’s triumphant return to the red carpet after her cancer ordeal. Bafta film committee chairman Anna Higgs says she is ‘very hopeful’ Kate will accompany husband William, the academy’s president, at London’s Royal Festival Hall on February 16.
An insider adds Bafta is ‘throwing everything at securing’ Kate’s presence, aware of the worldwide fanfare her arrival will herald.
Kate finished chemotherapy in September and said that she would focus on staying ‘cancer-free’. Since then she has met families of the girls killed in the Southport knife attack, marked Remembrance Sunday and led her annual carol service at Westminster Abbey. But she has yet to return to the glamour of the red carpet.
The well-placed insider said: ‘Bafta has close ties with William and Kate and is pulling out all the stops to try to secure Kate’s presence at this year’s awards. It sent her warmest wishes when she revealed her cancer diagnosis and hopes she will appear alongside William in what will be her big showbiz return since she’s been in recovery. Anything Bafta can do to work around Kate, it will do. William and Kate love to watch the nominated films beforehand and we know Kate enjoys meeting those working in the film industry. We have been told that she wouldn’t want to miss it, so she’s hoping to be there with William.’
“William and Kate love to watch the nominated films beforehand.” He didn’t last year, which caused some issues as he suggested that a film about rape would have been “fun” to act in. It’s not that I or anyone else expect the BAFTA president to watch every single film, but it’s bizarre that he couldn’t read a summary of the nominated films, right? As for Kate’s possible attendance, I love that everyone’s like, yeah, we’ve got to bribe her to do this kind of stuff now. We have to beg and pull strings and promise all kinds of sh-t to get her to put on a dress. I actually wonder if William even wants her to come to the BAFTAs?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
